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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
Entertainment
Luke Buckmaster

Imagine review – profound conversations meet trippy visuals in one-of-a-kind adventure

Animated still showing a red-headed teen in a hoodie floating through the air next to a bright green dog with purple markings on its body.
Imagine is co-directed by Bundjalung author and social entrepreneur Jack Manning Bancroft and scholar Tyson Yunkaporta from the Apalech clan in far north Queensland. Photograph: MIFF

I’ve never seen a film quite like this chaotically strange animation from writer-directors Tyson Yunkaporta and Jack Manning Bancroft, who fill it with slap-happy pleasures and plotlines that bounce around like pinballs.

Attempting to explain the narrative is a fool’s errand, like trying to tickle yourself. I can say with confidence – assuming I didn’t unknowingly consume magic mushrooms beforehand and hallucinate the entire thing – that the story follows a teenager, Kim (voice of Yolande Brown), who gets pulled into a surreal alternate universe that they explore with their new pal Jeff (Yunkaporta), a bright-green alien dog.

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